What the internet taught us this week… U.S. Election Special

DONALD TRUMP STUNS THE WORLD TO BECOME THE 45th PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA⎯

Businessman Donald Trump defied the odds to become the 45th President of the United States. (Image: Eric Thayer / Reuters)

Events in 2016 have given the internet plenty to talk about, and the U.S. presidential election was no exception. The internet went into overdrive as Republican candidate Donald Trump overtook the Democrats’ Hillary Clinton in the race to the White House.

FRED the ALIEN followed the election and, through The New York Times, relayed the progress of the voting outcomes.

FRED the ALIEN’s tweets throughout the election (times indicated are in Australian Eastern Daylight Savings Time), showing how the votes turned to Trump’s favour. (Images: https://www.twitter.com/FREDtheALIENpro)

Such hashtags as #USElection2016, #ElectionDay, #ElectionNight, #Election2016, and #PresidentTrump were trending throughout the day.

Social media responded to the result with humour, pop culture references, and protests. The anti-Trump onslaught continued after Clinton conceded defeat. As depicted below, Lady Gaga (pictured in ABC News’s Instagram) stood outside Trump Tower to protest the election outcome, which would have been different, according to @markbritton7’s Twitter post, if voters were exclusively millennials. Representing the future generation of voters, a sleepy ten-year-old Barron Trump (pictured in @mrmikechristian’s Twitter post) was up past his bedtime to hear his father’s victory speech.